The current invention concerns heavy duty stake rack panels. Racks for use with flatbed trucks and trailers are known within the art. The volume of cargo carrying capacity of a truck or trailer is limited by the surrounding walls of the stake rack system. Typically, a stake rack system includes several panels comprised of a series of horizontal members attached to a series of vertical posts or stakes. These posts or stakes are positioned to correspond with sockets contained within the outer perimeter of the top surface of either a truck bed or trailer bed. Often, the panels are made to be inserted separately and secured to one another with fasteners. Each side of the truck box comprised of the stake rack is a separate panel or a plurality of panels. The panels are removable to allow greater versatility and use of the truck. For example, a side panel may be removed to allow loading of the cargo. The panel can then be replaced and secured relative to the other panels to maintain the cargo within the enclosure created by the panels.
Typical stake rack panels comprised of a plurality of horizontal members attached to a plurality of vertical stakes are constructed so the horizontal members are spaced apart from one another and do not overlap. This leaves a gap that allows smaller material to escape from the cargo area A typical application of such stake racks is used in landscaping. Small loose material such as leaves or mulch is loaded into the cargo area. As the trailer or truck is driven down the highway, much of the cargo is allowed to escape by blowing through the gaps between the horizontal members of the panels. One solution to this problem has been to attach another sheet of material such as an expanded wire mesh to the stake rack panel. There are draw backs to this method, including that the wire mesh is easily deformed and ruptured. Also, the mesh must be secured to the panels which involves an additional material component when constructing the stake rack panels. The present invention seeks to eliminate these problems through the design of a unitary structure for a stake rack panel attached to the posts of the panel.